Title
A Voyage to the East Indies: Page 45
Description
Shines intensely hot, they paint their doors, window shutters & Frames of a Grass Green. Their Public Buildings are the Church, Hospital, Library and Town House, but all scarcely worth Noticing. They have begun building a capacious & what promises to be a commodious Hospital. The Company’s Gardens excell every thing in the Place, tho’ they within these few Years have lost their Beauty. It is a large Piece of Ground, of a rectangular Form, divided into a Number of regular Partitions by Oak & Maple Edges forming many agreeable and shady Walks. A large Avenue divides the Garden from the Top to the Bottom, regularly planted with Oak Trees, it wants but a few Feet of being half a Mile long. In the Middle of the Garden, a Government House is lately erected, with a Fountain and Parterie before it. This Garden produces almost all the Vegetables in Use, at least in the culinary way, Fruit & every thing which can be wanted to suffice Nature or regale the Appetite. The Dutch Indiamen are supplied with vegetables from this Garden. There are a great Number of Slaves, kept by the dutch Company, on Purpose to cultivate it. The Soil in this Part of the world is dry & sandy, but immense Pains has been taken to improve it. No large Trees grow here so that Timber is very Scarce & they are obliged to get almost all their building Materials from Holland or Batavia, except Lime, which they make of sea shells, by burning them on [end page 45]
